


Thunderstorm

by enigmaticagentscully



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, because let's face it, for some who had lived in space their entire life, some things about the ground would be weird and terrifying as hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2016-10-06
Packaged: 2018-08-19 21:04:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8224742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmaticagentscully/pseuds/enigmaticagentscully
Summary: In which there is a storm, and possibly some cuddling. Set in that lovely gap between seasons two and three that we all adore.
(cross-posted from my tumblr)





	

Another crack of thunder rolled overheard, and Abby dropped the datapad she’d been holding.

The storm had been building for the past quarter of an hour, and was now reaching its height just as night started to fall. Rain beat against the windows and drummed into the ground, forks of lightning flickered across the sky, illuminating distant mountain peaks with sharp, vivid flashes. The wind roared through the forests, and the thunder...

Abby had been getting increasingly jumpy from the moment the first roll of thunder had sounded in the distance, and now she was so horribly on edge that she couldn’t settle to any task, couldn’t concentrate on anything but the colossal, primal noise of the storm outside.

There were no thunderstorms in space. All they had in the way of natural phenomenon were solar flares; nice, _quiet_ solar flares that were so routine as to be a chore rather than a worry. Solar flares didn’t make you feel as though the world itself was breaking apart overhead, as though the great vault of the sky was splitting in two and would come crashing down upon your head at any moment.

Abby had lived most of her life in an aging patchwork space station meant to last only a fraction of the time it had been in service, mainly held together by spit and hope. Being afraid of the world breaking apart around you was _not_ an idle fear.

She picked up the fallen datapad and placed it carefully on the table before going to sit on the sofa, sinking down onto the cushions, fingers gripping the edge. Just for a moment, she told herself, just to try and pull herself together before starting on one of the dozen other important things she had to do. Unfortunately, most of those things involved leaving this room, and since right now Abby was resisting the stupid urge to crawl underneath the large table and cower there, actually going out of the door into the corridor was more than she could even contemplate. Besides, she would have to see other people then, and how was she supposed to explain to them that their Chancellor was—

Abby had been so tensed up waiting for the next roll of thunder that she jumped a little at the sound of the door opening. She jerked her head up to see Marcus come in, dripping wet and grinning like someone who was having the time of his life.

“Well, everything’s holding firm for now,” he said cheerfully, stripping off his sodden guard jacket and throwing it over the back of a chair to dry. “Good thing we planned for this, it’s really impressive out there. You should take a look.”

“I’ll pass,” said Abby, trying to keep her voice calm as he crossed the room to grab a towel he had put there earlier and started to dry his face and hair as best he could. “I’d rather not risk pneumonia.”

“Lincoln says this time of year it likely won’t last more than a few hours,” continued Marcus, his voice slightly muffled by the towel. “But everything is waterproofed, so the biggest risk is falling trees, and we’re far enough away from the treeline that it should be fine.”

“Right,” said Abby. “Good.”

A flash of lightning lit up the room in stark white lines. Her fingernails dug into the palms of her hands.

“Of course if lightning hits the main Ark structure itself we might have problems, but Sinclair is fairly confident they’ve sorted that,” continued Marcus, with what Abby considered to be a far more nonchalant tone than the comment warranted.

Thunder rolled overheard with a terrific boom, and she let out a sharp yelp in spite of herself. Marcus lowered the towel and looked at her, concerned.

“Are you alright?” he said.

“Fine,” said Abby tightly.

Marcus laid the towel over the back of the chair with his jacket, still frowning slightly. “You know, I half expected you to be gone when I came back,” he said slowly. “Usually when anything like a crisis happens you go rushing around trying to be everywhere at once.”

“There’s nothing I can do right now,” said Abby, wishing she still had the datapad in her hands so she could at least pretend to be looking at something, and wouldn’t have to meet Marcus’ eyes. “You said yourself the camp is battened down. Medical is...is quiet.”

The wind chose that moment to rattle something sharply against the window, presumably light debris swept up by the storm. The sound made Abby flinch automatically, and she saw Marcus’ look of surprise. She looked away, suddenly horribly embarrassed. There was a thread loose at the hem of her shirt. Abby focused on that, winding it around her finger and trying to follow it to the source.

“Abby?” said Marcus cautiously.

“Mmm?”

“Are you...afraid of thunder?”

She didn’t reply or raise her head to look at him, just kept picking at the loose thread, and that was apparently evidence enough.

“Abby, I’ve seen you face down an army of Grounders.” He sounded incredulous, and worse, slightly amused. “You do...I mean, you know the storm can’t hurt us in here? The worst that will happen is we’ll have a lot to clear up tomorrow morning.”

“Yes I _know_ ,” snapped Abby as she finally looked back up at him, relieved to have a reason to be angry at Marcus instead of herself. “I know that. It’s not a _rational_ fear, Marcus. I know where it comes from, I know what it is, I just...” She exhaled sharply, unable to explain something that didn’t really make sense to her either.

“I’m just surprised _this_ of all things bothers you,” said Marcus. His hair was still dripping and dishevelled from where he’d been attempting to dry it, and he was staring at her as if he’d never seen her before.

“Yes, well so am I,” said Abby.

“I could get you a blanket to hide under, if you like.”

Abby glared at him, and then nearly jumped out of her skin as another colossal crash of thunder drowned out her response. It was...it was the way the sound seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once, violent and vast and utterly beyond control. The storm must be almost overheard, she thought, raging in the sky above the fragile metal shell of the downed Ark, which had been her whole world for so long and now seemed so small, so flimsy...

She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep shuddering breath, desperately trying to calm herself. She no longer cared how pathetic she looked, and was on the point of drawing her legs up onto the couch to hug her knees when she felt Marcus sit down next to her.

“Sorry,” he said, and when she opened her eyes he was looking at her with a soft expression, all trace of humour gone. “I shouldn’t make fun.”

“It’s ridiculous,” muttered Abby, even now inclined to argue with him just for the sake of it. There was a comforting familiarity in being annoyed with Marcus, and she’d cling to that if nothing else.

“It isn’t,” said Marcus. “It’s just new.” He smiled. “It’s something you haven’t experienced before. It’s natural to be a bit afraid.”

“ _You’re_ fine,” said Abby, sounding a touch petulant even to her own ears. “You’re _enjoying_ it.”

“It’s amazing,” said Marcus, with a hint of the earlier enthusiasm in his voice creeping back in. “Outside it feels like the storm fills up the whole sky, but if we were still on the Ark it wouldn’t even be a big enough blot on the world for us to notice. It really was impossible to imagine up there. The scale of it...”

He must have seen the look on her face, because he added hastily: “It’s just one more thing to get used to about the ground. I’m sure you’re not the only one who finds it disconcerting.”

‘Disconcerting’ was putting it mildly, but Abby at least appreciated the attempt at reassurance. She also appreciated the solid presence of Marcus beside her on the couch, comforting in a way she couldn’t put into words. Now _that_ was another strange thing to get used to about the ground, she thought, and felt a smile touch her lips in spite of everything.

The momentary distraction was almost immediately shattered by another crash of thunder that sent a jolt of adrenaline through her, instantly tensing every muscle in her body.

“ _Damn_ it,” she hissed, and leaned forwards into her hands, running them shakily through her hair in a nervous gesture, torn between wretchedness and pure frustration at her own reaction. There was a tense silence. Out of the corner of her eye Abby saw Marcus open his mouth as if to say something, and then clearly think better of it.

Then, to her very great surprise, he put his arm around her shoulders.

It was a surprisingly casual, assured movement, as if putting his arm around her was something Marcus Kane did every day. Abby was so taken off guard by it that she instinctively leaned back into him, moving closer to his side. After a brief moment of hesitation, she allowed her head to rest naturally on his shoulder, and heard the faint, brief catch of Marcus’ breath.

She wondered if this was too much, if they’d overstepped the bounds of what they allowed their relationship to be.

She wondered if it should bother her that, resting against the steady rise and fall of Marcus’ chest, with his arm wrapped around her, she didn’t much _care._

Marcus cleared his throat. “Does that...” His voice was low and soft and he trailed off uncertainly.

“It helps,” said Abby quietly. “Thank you.”

They lapsed into silence, with only the sound of the wind howling outside and the rain lashing against the window. Abby suddenly remembered another time when she had been curled up against his side like this, her head resting on his shoulder. Back then the world really _had_ been breaking apart around them, and she had been sure she was going to die, that they were _all_ going to die.

But then suddenly, just like now, Marcus had been there. He had brought her out of the dark.

The storm raged on. His arm was warm and firm around her. With her head tucked against his shoulder she could hear his pulse beating beneath his skin, strong and rapid, and tried not to think about what it meant, that Marcus was so affected by having her pressed up against him.

_It’s just new. It’s natural to be a bit afraid._

Neither of them spoke another word. When the thunder came again, she flinched, and felt his arm tighten around her, holding her close. Abby closed her eyes and breathed deeply and tried to convince herself that the wild, erratic thudding of her own heart was only because of the storm.


End file.
